Vols sneak onto bubble

Monday

Feb 25, 2013 at 12:01 AMFeb 25, 2013 at 1:00 PM

Steve Walentik

Florida is the only Southeastern Conference team that can say with complete confidence it will make the NCAA Tournament. The Gators, who dropped three places to No. 8 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll after losing at Missouri on Tuesday, are a lock to land a tournament bid and still remain in the hunt for a No. 1 seed.

But all the other teams who've been looked at as contenders are having a difficult time stating their case for inclusion.

Missouri just knocked off the Gators but fell to 1-7 on the road by losing in overtime at Kentucky on Saturday. The Wildcats' victory was a boost to their tournament hopes, but it was still only their first victory over a team in the top 50 in the Ratings Percentage Index. Mississippi blew out Auburn at home on Saturday but had dropped five of seven before that. Alabama is 10-4 in league play but lost in triple overtime Saturday at LSU and has nonconference losses to Mercer and Tulane.

Maybe the team maybe making the strongest case that it belongs in the 68-team field is one that was all but forgotten after starting league play 1-4: Tennessee.

The Volunteers have won five straight, including Saturday's quadruple-overtime win at Texas A&M and a 30-point pummeling of Kentucky a week earlier to move into the top 60 in the RPI rankings. They have a chance to climb even higher when they play host to Florida tomorrow.

"They're not the same team they were in November," Gators Coach Billy Donovan said during this morning's SEC teleconference.

Sophomore Jarnell Stokes has played like a first-team All-SEC player, averaging 14 points and a conference-leading 10.3 rebounds in league play, to lead Tennessee's resurgence. Junior guard Jordan McRae ranks fourth in the SEC in scoring during league games, averaging 17.7. Junior guard Trae Golden was named the SEC player of the week after averaging 26 points.

MISSOURI UPDATE

Frank Haith has had more than a day to digest Missouri's overtime loss in Lexington on Saturday, but his team's defensive performance over the final 25 minutes has left him with a bad taste.

The Tigers were coming off one of their strongest defensive performances of the season against Florida, holding the Gators to 40.7 percent shooting while rallying for a 63-60 victory.

But they allowed the Wildcats to shoot 19 for 31 (61.3 percent) after intermission while they came from behind.

"So much of it is our guys are putting too much premium on seeing the ball go in the basket for them, and we can't let that affect how we play on" the defensive "end of the court," Haith said. "When you have six guys averaging in double figures like we do, it's going to be somebody's night. It's not always going to be your night, so when it's not your night, you've got to continue to play the way we need to play on the defensive end."

Haith is going to have to figure out a way to get his team to maintain its defensive intensity while playing three games in six days. Missouri opens that stretch with an 8 p.m. tipoff at South Carolina on Thursday, takes on LSU at 3 p.m. Saturday at Mizzou Arena and plays host to Arkansas at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the final regular-season home game.

FEELING YOUR PAIN

Mississippi State Coach Rick Ray said his undermanned team — with only six scholarship players and two walk-ons — lost its spirit in a 72-31 loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday. It was the Bulldogs' second loss in as many weeks by more than 40 points and dropped them to 2-12 in conference play.

Commodores Coach Kevin Stallings, who's had his own struggles this season after losing his top six players from a year ago, couldn't help but feel some sympathy for Ray.

"Absolutely, you feel for the guy, at least I do," Stallings said. "I certainly feel for the person going through that. ...

"None of us are in the business, none of us are coaching because we want to lose or like losing," Stallings said. "But it certainly, at least for me going through a situation like that, made the successes and the winning and those things more gratifying after I had experienced that."